The next day, as Doug drove them to school, Jess looked out the window at the passing countryside, her thoughts on Marty.  Knowing they'd worked out whatever was going on with him, she felt at peace.  It was still going to be difficult seeing him at school, but she was confident that at least their time together would make up for it.  Smiling as she remembered how she'd convinced him to do his homework with her, she felt happy.  She'd always preferred doing homework with friends, inviting one or more over after school nearly every day.  They'd watch American Bandstand while they had a snack, and then do homework at the kitchen table while Cora cooked dinner.

Thinking of those girls back in Manhattan brought her thoughts to Louise.  Even though she'd only known her for a day, Jess thought she'd found her first female friend.  The curly haired redhead was smart and funny but even better, she wasn't afraid to be herself and didn't seem as worried about status as everyone else.  Jess wanted to spend as much time as she could with Marty, but it would be fun to do some things with Louise.  Maybe they could have a sleepover, or go to a movie once in a while.  But when she thought about asking her, she realized she had a problem.

"Doug, do you know Louise Brooks?" she asked, turning towards him as they entered the town. 

"Brooks, Brooks, Brooks," he said quietly to himself as he thought.  "No, I don't know anyone named Brooks," he said finally.  "Why?"

"She's a girl I met.  She's really nice."

"What's her dad do?" Doug said, turning off the two lane road onto the street that led to the high school.

"I – don't know," she replied hesitantly.  If this was the first question he'd asked, she now knew more than ever how important the answer was.  Her suspicion was confirmed by the wary look in his eyes as he glanced over at her.

"You weren't going to mention her to dad before you found out, were you?"

"No.  I know better than that," she muttered angrily, looking out the window at the passing groups of teens.  

"Good.  Because I don't need the hassle," he said, sounding angry himself.  "Find out, and I'll tell you if it's okay or not," he added more calmly.

"Okay," she said with a deep sigh.  She felt a pain in her chest as she remembered how much simpler her life had been when her parents were still alive.  It had never mattered to them who she brought home, or what their fathers did for a living.  It made her sad to realize she'd never have that life again and friends like Marty, or maybe even Louise, couldn't even be mentioned at home. 

"Doesn't it bother you to live like this," she asked Doug.

"Like what?" he asked, turning into the high school parking lot.

"Not being able to be friends with whoever you want."

He frowned but didn't say anything as he looked for a parking place and pulled in.  When he turned off the ignition, he faced her, still frowning.

"Look, Jess.  I'm lucky to be living this life – and so are you," he added as if it suddenly occurred to him.  "We aren't like the rest of the kids in this school.  We have responsibilities that go along with all – this," he said, moving his hand to indicate his new car.  "Maybe not all of it's fun, but I'm grateful to be in this family.  And you should be too," he added sternly, reminding her instantly of her uncle.  He got out of the car and slammed the door shut before walking off, leaving her alone.

With her face flaming and her ego bruised, she gathered her books, lunch, and purse.  She wasn't being ungrateful, she thought angrily as she opened the car door.  She just wanted to be allowed to be friends with whoever she liked.  What was wrong with that?  Spotting Louise's red curls among a group of girls that included Patty and Janet, she walked to them. 

Doug was the one who didn't understand, she decided firmly.  He didn't know it was possible to live another way.  Standing with the chatting girls, she stayed quiet as a thought suddenly came to her.  This had to be why her dad and mom had chosen to move so far away.  They didn't want this kind of life, and she didn't want it either.  As soon as she was old enough, she'd move far away too.  She'd choose a place where she could be just Jess, and not one of the Blackwell's.

When she and Louise were in homeroom, she kept an eye on the door, feeling nervous.  Since she wasn't entirely sure what had made Marty so angry before, she had no idea if it would happen again.  He walked in with his head down and she tensed as he lifted it.  Seeing the warmth in his brown eyes as they briefly met hers, she relaxed.  Facing forward, she knew everything was alright. 

Later that morning, Jess and Louise walked into social studies class and stopped at Mr. Miller's desk where he was reading over a stack of papers to drop off their homework.  Putting her paper on top of Louise's, Jess hoped he'd think she'd done well.  She hated knowing he didn't want her in his class.

Once seated, she was getting out paper and a pencil to take notes when Marty walked in.  He automatically turned to head to the back of the room, then stopped and walked up to Mr. Miller's desk.  Pulling a folded sheet of paper out of his back pocket, he tossed it on the pile of homework, turned, and walked away as Mr. Miller looked up from his reading.

"Mr. Cappellini!"

Marty stopped in mid-stride as a hush fell over the room.  His shoulder's curved inward and his head dropped as if he was trying to make himself smaller.  Slowly turning with his cheeks flushing, he walked back to the desk where he stood with his head down.  Jess held her breath and her heart began pounding with fear.  What was Mr. Miller going to do to him?

"What is this?" Mr. Miller demanded loudly, picking up the folded paper by the corner with his thumb and forefinger.  If anyone in the class hadn't been focused on the two of them, they were now.

"Homework," Marty muttered quietly to the floor.

He eyed Marty with surprise and then began unfolding the paper.  Scanning it quickly, his expression changed from skepticism to shock, and then he peered up at Marty.  Opening and closing his mouth a few times as if he was searching for something to say, he finally settled on, "Thank you, Mr. Cappellini.  You may go to your seat now."

Jess let her breath out as Marty's head snapped up.  He gawked at Mr. Miller for a moment before slowly pivoting.  Walking past Jess, he almost appeared in a daze with a look of disbelief on his face.  Knowing this might be the first time he'd done something to impress a teacher, she felt a fierce pride for him.  During the rest of the class, she could barely concentrate on Mr. Miller's lecture on the Constitution, remembering that look on Marty's face. 

When class was over, she lingered as she gathered her things, wanting to have the opportunity to see Marty.  She hoped to let him know with a smile or a look that she was proud of him.

"Come on, Jess," Louise urged, already standing with her books in her arms.  "We have to go to our lockers to get our gym uniforms before class." 

"Okay," Jess said reluctantly, and hurriedly scooped up her things.  As she walked out, she craned her neck to try to find him, but there were too many people between them.

Once they were in the girl's locker room, Jess felt embarrassed, realizing she was going to have to take off her clothes in front of other people.  She slowly unbuttoned her shirt, trying not to look at anyone and then she accidentally caught sight of Louise's bra and turned to the wall with her face reddening, feeling even more embarrassed she was still wearing undershirts.  Was she ever going to grow up and stop looking like a little girl?  She kept her eyes on the wall for the rest of the time she changed, not wanting to know who was looking at her.

Just as she was finishing tying the laces on her second gym shoe, Louise said, "Are you ready?" and Jess straightened.  "Oh, my gosh!  Look at you!" Louise exclaimed loudly with wide eyes, and the other girls looked over.  "How did you get your uniform to look like that?" she gasped.

Jess looked down at her uniform, then up at the girls around her.  They were looking at her with mixtures of astonishment and envy, especially Patty whose mouth was hanging open. Unlike the rest of them with their ill fitting tops and enormous bloomers, Annie had made her shirt fit perfectly and sewn tucks in the bloomers, hiding most of the extra fabric so they looked more like shorts.

"Annie fixed them for me," Jess said, smiling with happiness that she'd taken such care to make her uniform look so nice.

"Who's Annie?" Louise inquired as they left the locker room.

"Uh," Jess stalled, immediately feeling uncomfortable.  "She's the, uh, person who – takes care of our home."

"You mean she's the maid?" Louise asked, and Jess searched her eyes.  To her relief, there were no signs of jealousy or awkwardness.  She opened her mouth to agree, but hesitated.  She couldn't say Annie was just a maid when she was so much more than that.

"Well, she's more like a mom to me and Doug," Jess said, and then smiled again.  "I love her like one," she declared.

"That's swell," Louise replied, smiling back at her, and then her smile dropped as she looked over Jess's head. 

Jess turned in the direction she was facing and noticed Miss Gillis eyeing her uniform.  From the frown on her face, Jess knew she disapproved of Annie's sewing job.  Afraid she was going to tell her she had to take her uniform back home to take the stitching out, she waited but instead Miss Gillis focused on the girls taking seats on the bleachers.

"Pair up and get a basketball from the storage room!" she barked.  "One ball per pair!  We're going to practice dribbling and passing."  Jess and Louise grinned at each other before running, starting a race to the storage room with the other girls. 

Afterwards, changed into their regular clothes, they went to the small gym with their lunches and joined the girls Jess had eaten lunch with on the first day.  Just as she sat on the bench next to Louise, she saw Marty heading through the gym to go outside.  She was relieved to see he had his sack lunch and smiled as she opened her own sack.

"What's so funny?" Patty asked cattily. 

"She's remembering how you looked in gym class," Louise retorted just as cattily.  Patty huffed and faced Janet on her other side while Jess and Louise shared a smile.

Even though she didn't like the other girls at the table that much, it didn't bother her to sit with them since she had Louise to talk to.  As she ate her sandwich, she thought about their conversation about Annie.  Was Louise alright knowing she had a maid because her family had one too, she wondered.  If she did, it would make Jess's life a lot easier.  She would be able to openly acknowledge her as a friend in front of her uncle. 

But how to bring it up?  She felt uncomfortable asking her outright.  If Louise didn't have one, it would be awkward.  And she didn't want Louise to think she cared about things like that.  Feeling angry she that she had to find out if her friend was rich, she tried to think of something.

"Do you have any brothers or sisters?" she asked finally, deciding to start with something small.

"Yeah, I have two brothers and a sister." 

"Wow!  That's a big family!" Jess said with amazement.  Being an only child made it hard to imagine what it must be like to live with so many kids.  "I bet it's really busy at your house," she said, thinking of how quiet her own home was.  Louise rolled her eyes.

"You don't know the half of it!" she exclaimed with a wave of her hand.  "Jack is only four.  I swear he thinks he's Tarzan.  He's crazy!  Joyce is easier to deal with.  She's seven and Gary is nine.  He's not as crazy, thank goodness!" she laughed, shaking her head and making her curls bounce.

"That does sound busy," Jess said quietly, wondering how different things would have been if she hadn't had to go through losing her parents and leaving Manhattan all alone.

"After school is the worst because my mom has to leave to help my dad," she continued. "Jack is running around like a wild man while I'm trying to make snacks for Joyce and Gary.  But then they usually settle down and I can do my homework before I have to make dinner."

"Oh?" Jess said, with a sinking feeling.  "What does your mom help your dad with?"

"My family owns The Golden Skillet."

"The – what?"

"Haven't you seen it?" Louise said with astonishment.  "It's a restaurant.  There are only three of them in town!"

"I've been too busy to go into town much," Jess said, pretending she couldn't find her cookies in her bag.  She didn't remember it from the one time she'd gone to town with Annie, and it would be too embarrassing to admit she hadn't been allowed to go to town before then.

"Anyway, she helps out before the dinner rush," Louise said.  "And then she stays until they close.  On the weekends they let me work there.  They even pay me," she said with pride.

"Swell!" Jess said, happy for her. 

It seemed like she had a nice family with everyone helping each other out, Jess thought.  She imagined Louise at home with her brothers and sister, all with red curls like her, sitting around a kitchen table, laughing and having fun.  But when she imagined Louise's mom and dad, she pictured her own parents, and a sadness overwhelmed her.  Pushing the thoughts out of her head, she was grateful it was time to go to science class.

The period after that was math, the only other one she had with Marty.  As she was approaching the door, she spotted him and quickened her steps, walking in just behind him.  Without hesitation, he went right to Mr. Taylor's desk and laid his math homework on all the others before heading to the back of the room.  Mr. Taylor watched him with bewilderment from his spot at the blackboard and Jess smiled at him while laying her homework on top of Marty's.  He appeared startled, then returned it.

After school, while driving home with Doug, she was excited and happy, knowing she'd soon be with Marty.  This time she knew she wouldn't have to force him to do his homework.

"Did you find out what your friend's dad does?" Doug said, interrupting her thoughts and she slumped in the seat, her happiness vanishing.  

"Her family owns The Golden Skillet," she muttered to the window.

"Oh, that family," he said quietly with recognition.  "Don't mention her to dad," he added more soberly.

"I wasn't planning on it," she muttered angrily.  Perhaps sensing an argument would be the result, Doug stayed quiet.  She tried to push her angry thoughts away, but it wasn't until they drove through the open gate while James stood by that her mood finally lifted. 

Walking in the kitchen with Doug, she immediately went to Annie as she greeted the two of them, giving her a tight hug.

"Thank you," she said when she released her, and Annie laughed.

"You're welcome, but for what?" she asked bemusedly.

"My uniform."

"Oh, right.  How did it fit?"

"It was perfect!" Jess exclaimed, smiling.

"Swell!" she beamed.  "I thought you'd want to go outside to do your homework again so I packed a basket."  Jess gave her another tight hug, then took the basket and headed out, not wanting to waste a precious minute of her time with Marty.

When she walked in the cabin, Marty was sitting at the table drinking tea.  Jess was delighted to see his textbooks on the table in front of him.

"Hi, Marty," she said happily.

"What took you so long?" he asked, when she set her books and basket on the table.  She wondered what he meant, and then saw the corners of his mouth twitching.

"Stop being a smart aleck," she said, giving him a shove before pulling out her stool. 

"You're so mean," he laughed, rubbing his shoulder.  "You don't have to push people around all the time, you know?"

"Stop teasing and open your social studies book," she said, trying not to smile while she put food on the table.  "We have a lot of reading to do."

"Yes, ma'am!" he said, giving her a quick salute before he looked through his stack of books. 

When it was time to go home, Marty stood and stretched while she stacked her books.   Without him saying anything, she knew he was coming with her.  As they wandered down the path, Jess noticed it was darker than normal.  The days were getting shorter now that they were heading into fall.  A cool breeze swept through the forest just she worried what this meant for her time with Marty, and she shivered.  

"Cold?" Marty asked.

"A little," she said, clutching her books to her chest tighter.  "Are you cold?"

"No, not really," he said casually while she eyed his t-shirt.  She'd only ever seen him in a t-shirt and his battered jeans.  Did he have other clothes?

"I guess winter is coming," she said, studying his face, wondering if he was worried about it too.

"I reckon," he replied with a shrug, stopping since they'd reached the curve just before the garage.  Looking up in his brown eyes, she wished she could tell him the things she was thinking, but knew it probably wasn't a good idea.  She knew Marty well enough by now to know he wasn't comfortable talking about things like she was. 

"See you tomorrow, Marty," she said finally.

"Yeah.  See ya, kid," he said, smirking.

"Don't call me that!" she demanded, but she couldn't help smiling.  "You know I don't like it."

"But you're so easy to tease," he said, smiling more broadly and she laughed.

"Alright, time to go," she said, giving him a playful push.

"Okay, okay," he said, giving in with his hands up. 

He started down the quickly darkening path while she watched him and just before the curve, he turned and gave her another salute, then stepped out of sight.  She smiled at the empty spot for a moment, and then started for the garage, her smile vanishing as she worried what the future held for both of them.

****

I hope you liked this chapter even though it's somewhat quieter than the last one.  What did you make of Doug's speech about how he feels being in his family?  Do you think his reasoning was justified?  Do you think Jess will influence him to change his way of thinking?  Or after seeing how she handled the situation with Louise, is she the one who's being changed? Marty is already heading down a different path because of his friendship with Jess.  What's in store for them?  I'm dying to know what you think so please share your thoughts! 

Thank you for reading!  I can't tell you how much it means to me that you enjoy it and love Marty and Jess, and Annie too!  The video is Alone With You by Faron Young, a great country song.